An embodiment of the cultural zeitgeist of 1970s Britain

The 1980s saw the birth of the Mini-Crini and the tartan Harris Tweed suit, and with them Westwood’s gradual ascendancy to the fashion Hall of Fame; she was named British Fashion Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council in both 1990 and 1991.

The 1990s saw Westwood fully embrace the supermodel era, with numerous

FW93 ‘Anglomaina’ collection

The pair of nine-inch platform heels that famously got the better of Naomi Campbell on the Parisian runway.

T-shirts bearing poignant anti-terror law slogans emerged for SS06, while banners were emblazoned with such statements as ‘fracking is a crime” and “austerity is a crime” for SS16, hearkening to Westwood’s intense passion for climate change activism. She even delivered a letter- with a box of asbestos- to the doorstep of David Cameron’s constituency home in Oxfordshire in a further attempt to protest fracking in 2015. If that wasn’t radical enough for you, she also made the journey through the Oxford suburbs in a 60-tonne military tank. In her own words: “financial crisis is a symptom and the herald of climate change- coming soon, apocalypse in 2020. When are we going to listen to the scientists?”

Although quintessentially British, Vivienne Westwood’s appeal was international, intergenerational. It wouldn’t be a stretch to deem her a feminist icon either. Chrissie Hynde, frontwoman of The Pretenders but better known to Westwood as a ‘SEX’ shop assistant, spoke the words the entire fashion world was thinking: “Vivienne is gone and the world is already a less interesting place.”